Rush: Snakes & Arrows (2LP) [ANTHEM RECORDS]

Why you'll love it

This remastered 2LP set comes in a gatefold jacket. Snakes & Arrows reached No. 3 in Canada and the US, went gold here, and the instrumental "Malignant Narcissism" earned a Grammy nomination.

This edition

• 2LP set
• Remastered
• Gatefold jacket

About the album

After the R30 tour wrapped in 2004, Rush took a year off and came back fired up by the covers EP Feedback, where they'd played simple, direct songs live in the room. They brought that spirit to their eighteenth studio album, with Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson jamming ideas in their home studios here in Toronto while Neil Peart wrote lyrics in California and sent them over.

Lifeson took a tip from David Gilmour, who'd told him that a song worth keeping should stand up on an acoustic guitar, and you can hear it in the open, ringing textures. Co-producer Nick Raskulinecz, a lifelong fan, pushed them hard over five quick weeks of recording. "Far Cry" is a thunderous opener, "Workin' Them Angels" and "The Larger Bowl" lean on acoustic shimmer, and "Spindrift" and "Armor and Sword" brood magnificently. Three instrumentals made the record, the most on any Rush album: "The Main Monkey Business," "Hope" and "Malignant Narcissism."

Classic Rock named it one of the ten essential progressive rock albums of the decade. Thirty-odd years into their career, the trio were still finding new corners, which is more than can be said for the corner of our stockroom where the Rush records live; it hasn't changed since 1981.

Also at Kops: more Rush on vinyl · browse CDN Pop / Rock

Tracklist

Listen

On Anthem / Atlantic (cat# ANTH333), a reissue of the 2007 album.